Redeemer's blood, and poured it out at the root of the proud Aspen. Then was the unhappy tree benumbed. Its leaves sank down. Never more came rest again into its branches; and, when all is still, happy, and peaceful, it quivers and trembles, and is called the Trembling Poplar to this day.

PUCK.

THE CONVENT BELL.

OH! thou Convent Bell, thou Convent Bell,
Why art thou ringing, what dost thou tell?
Hath a spirit flown

To its last long home,

And art thou ringing its funeral knell ?

Or hath some girl, with a troubled breast,
Sought in thy cells for a place of rest?
And are they flinging,

While thou art ringing,

Over her shoulders the nun's sombre vest?

Is it a maiden of noble birth,

Whose voice once did sound with innocent mirth ?
Whose gladness hath past,

And hath looked her last

On all that was fair and bright upon earth?

Or is it a girl of low degree,

Who seeketh from this vain world to flee?

Who hath looked around

The wide world, and found

There's nought but God that's not vanity?

Oh, it must be a mighty power

Can bring thee here in thy young life's hour:
Whoever thou art,

'Twas sorrow of heart,

That sent thee for rest to the Convent tower.

The Convent Bell is a solemn thing;

It maketh one sad to hear it ring :-
But yet to the sad

Its sound seemeth glad;

It taketh from sorrow its sharpest sting.

It calls the weary, the worn, the cold,

And bids them come to God's peaceful fold;

And many a breast

Hath been soothed to rest,

By the blessed tale which that Bell hath told.

SELENIAKOS.

ON SHAKING HANDS.

It is in vain that we turn over the records of the past, the histories of years gone by, to find the origin of the custom above-named; Homer and Herodotus, Virgil and Livy, the curious Ovid, and the elegant Plutarch, find other matter to discuss; nor let their pens warm, and their imaginations fire, on this most ancient rite. But we will endeavour (unworthy though we be) to clear up the mystery that hangs around it, and trace it to its source through all the labyrinths of innumerable authors, till we discover whence it sprung, a fertile source of gratification and delight!

It would appear from ancient story, that the renowned Semiramis, queen of Babylon and good temper, when first she reigned supreme, thought the best way to greet her friends was to embrace them tenderly. It happened, however, one unlucky day, that a courtier, as he passed his arm around her neck, struck her comb (for queens even at that time thought such adjuncts necessary) so forcibly, as to cause her royal majesty severe pain; whereupon she issued a proclamation, that the embrace should no longer be the mode of salutation; offering, at the same time, a high reward to him who should discover a new method, one that should not be accompanied with much personal inconvenience. Whereupon her prime minister, Candleend Phagus, set his imagination to work, and invented, in the stead thereof, shaking the right hand, at which her majesty was graciously pleased to express her approbation, seeing that this plan did not involve rumpling her finery, or rising from her

seat.

Since her time, the practice has been greatly improved; and modern art has introduced many changes, not originally contemplated. With the march of intellect, shaking has progressed likewise. We have now music to express all the changes of the chase, the baying of the beagles, the neighing of the horse, and the shouts of the riders; or all the history of the terrific massacre of the Huguenots; nay, according to an eminent artiste, there is not a feeling of the human mind that music cannot express. Who can then wonder that we should have a shake of introduction and departure, of friendship and enmity, of cordiality and carelessness, of warm-heartedness and the coldest frigidity.

But lest our readers should be unacquainted with the nice shades

of difference between them, we will endeavour to draw them so distinctly, that he may at once recognise them; and conclude by a few remarks upon the etiquette of shaking.

To begin, then, with the shake of introduction, by way of bringing the subject more prominently under notice. We would define it, a mutual presentation of the hands, usually uncovered-a mutual seizure, followed by a short vibratory motion up and down, and from side to side; then a separation, rapid, easy, and complete. This is the true legitimate shake, the type of all the rest, the venerable patriarch from which all the rest have sprung; for as the philosophers would say, it expresses nothing, involves nothing. Far different is that which takes place on meeting a friend we esteem, or one who has long been absent. Who can tell the delight which takes the mind, as it were, by storm, when those who have long been separated, over whose heads have rolled long years of hardships, suffering, and toil, whose spirits have been bowed to the dust by the cold hand of misfortune, and whose heart had almost ceased to feel, meet together in some haven of rest, where their wearied bodies may find repose? Who cannot imagine the burning thoughts which dart with inconceivable velocity through the mind, in the hearty shake of recognition they then give? The past, with all its long vicissitudes, the joys that once they knew together, the evils which they since have known, are present to their view; but as their hands warm to each other's touch, and they feel once more the joys of friendship, these visions are dispelled, the thoughts of present happiness and freedom take their place; for, as the poet says,

"One moment may with bliss repay
Unnumbered hours of pain."

The next shake we shall notice, is that which takes place at parting. This we may subdivide into the careless, and the affectionate; the former merely ceremonious, the latter the result of warm-heartedness and esteem. When we have been some time in company with a friend, and nothing but common-place conversation has passed, there are none of those sensations excited which rouse the latent energies of the soul; all has been a placid calm; no wonder then that the parting is so too. Hands are joined and parted, and no more is thought.

But when the meeting has been one full of interchange of sentiment, where each lays before the other the inward workings of his

heart, with all the energy of a powerful mind, when roused to tell the passions that are raging within; or when one in deep anguish and despair confides to the other all the anxieties and troubles that bear him down, as does the mighty avalanche some hapless village in its course; when he details the losses he has suffered, and his own utter helplessness, to extricate himself from the maze in which he is involved, and when he finds by another's counsel that relief and comfort, which unaided he would long have sought in vain,—there is a load removed from his breast; a feeling of gratitude springs up within him, not as a small fountain, but a mighty river; and when they part, the warm grasp in which he holds the hand of his preserver is such as none can know, save those who have felt it; in it is expressed all the thoughts that agitate his soul, and the thrill is long remembered. Or when two fond lovers, who have been strolling through the flowery meadows, or the umbrageous woods, enjoying now the warm air of heaven, and now the delights of the verdant shade;-now standing still to gaze with rapture on a rich prospect at their feet —

"The cottage home, the bark of slender sail,

The glassy lake, and broomwood blossomed vale ;"—

now by the side of a sunny bank, where none can interrupt, enjoying the beauties of a favourite author, and from time to time conversing in low tones such words as none but lovers use, where gestures, looks, and sighs interpret more forcibly than orator could do the mutual thought;-oh! when they separate at eventide, who can tell the thrill of ecstasy they feel, as they clasp each other's hands, and linger on the last good night; or paint the mantling blushes that tell the deep delight the maiden feels, when the youth carries her too willing hand affectionately to his lips, and imprints thereon a burning kiss!

So much for shakes generally. Let us now notice some more particularly, for we shall find as many varieties as we find shades in the human mind; so much so, that some declare that merely from the peculiar mode of salutation may the prevailing feature of a person's character be predicated; an assertion far more probable than that it should be indicated by the hand-writing, or the shape of the nose; for the sanguine will give a hearty shake, the phlegmatic a cold and formal one, the nervous scarcely one at all. Who can imagine a man of science giving what some denominate the pump handle, or a Socrates presenting three fingers? There

are idiosyncrasies in shakes, each individual having one peculiar to himself: some grasp the whole hand, others only the fingers; some are passive, others take the whole duty on themselves; some give four fingers, some only two; some merely move the hand at the wrist, others the whole arm.

There are shakes peculiar to secret societies; and, from some observations we have made, we shrewdly guess that, though not freemasons ourselves, we could so grasp a brother's hand as to deceive. This we were led to, by a remark once made to us by a member, when we were shaking hands in a peculiar way." Do you mean to challenge me?" he observed. We replied in the negative. "I thought you did," was the rejoinder, "from your movements." This, however, is merely a vague speculation.

Proceed we next to notice the squeeze, a method of salutation men with strong and large hands are very apt to give, more especially when they meet with a small and delicate one, on which they can exert their prowess. What a savage delight is theirs, as they see the poor victim writhing in their grasp, kicking like one under the electro-magnetic torture, and gesticulating like a bear when learning a minuet! The effect is more particularly delightful to the shaker if the shakee happen to have one or two rings on his right hand, as then the effect is much greater, and the fun more choice. Yet, with all its terrors, with all the agonies of a hard gripe staring us in the face, we choose the squeeze, as being most agreeable to the feelings, albeit the senses may revolt. It proclaims there is meaning in it, that it is not the mere expression of civility, or an involuntary tribute to the shrine of etiquette. We recollect to have heard a lady complain, that a dear friend had given her a ring, and, whenever they met, shook her hand so cordially as nearly to break her fingers. The ring she would not give up; and there was so much character and feeling in the salutation, that she could not refuse her hand.

Contrast this with the cold shake. Two individuals meet together; the very images of frigidity and unconcern; men on whose ears unheeded fall the most studied speeches, whose eyes the most brilliant objects scarcely seem to brighten. One extends his hand, the other does so too; the thumbs are pressed lightly on the fingers; they part again, and all is over: the ceremony is over as soon as begun. Many a fond hope has this formality destroyed; many an air-built castle levelled low. Few there are who cannot recollect a time when they have, as children, been attached to